


The One that Remains

by aryadeschain



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-10
Updated: 2015-03-10
Packaged: 2018-03-17 06:09:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3518306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aryadeschain/pseuds/aryadeschain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not even the champion of Kirkwall was immune to the pain of grief</p>
            </blockquote>





	The One that Remains

Fenris thought that he was going to find Hawke drowning her sorrows in cheap wine or some strong spirits after her mother's death. Perhaps even punching something out of anger. Instead, he found her sitting on the bed, watching listless to the crackling coal of the fireplace in her room, elbows on her knees, shoulders slightly slumped.

"I don't know what to say" his deep voice seemed to echo through the room, even though it he spoke no louder than a whisper. "but I'm here."

For the first time, she looked nothing like the woman he met in the battlefield, with a wicked grin in her lips and a determined gaze in her eyes.

He knew that empty look. The one of a person who lost everything, who was despaired beyond hope and yet trying to keep a different facade.

He had seen it all before. The sense of loneliness, of helplessness, all in the borderline beyond despair.

He had been there before.

And yet, there was not a single tear in her eyes. She just looked at him hopeless, as if there was nothing left for her in the world. Nothing worth living for.

For a couple of instants, the emptiness in her eyes scared him.

She looked frail and empty and lonely.

She looked so... human.

Sometimes, he forgot she was human.

"Am I to blame for not saving her?"

Guilt made her voice waver.

He bit his lips.

"I could say no, but would that help?"

She shrugged.

"You are looking for forgiveness, but I'm not the one who can give it to you."

Fenris sat beside her in bed, his heart clenching in his chest. What was one to say in a moment like this?

He gently pulled her to his arms in a warm embrace, slowly caressing her hair.

"You are a good person, Hawke. No matter how harsh your manners may seem. But at least for now, don't be the champion of Kirkwall nor the eldest child. Don't be the person others want you to be. The person others expect you to be. At least for now, be whiny, selfish, childish if you must. But be the person you need to be. The world owes you that much at least."

She hid her face in his chest and tears finally came to hear eyes and she cried. She cried for the people she had lost, the ones she could not protect, the ones she left behind. She cried for the ones who had abandoned her, for those who died because of her decisions or for her inaction. For decisions that she shouldn't need to be taking because those were not hers to make. She cried because she was tired and lonely and sad and disappointed.

She was only human.

He stayed beside her until the sun was up, holding her until both of them fell asleep.

When Hawke woke up, the emptiness in her eyes faded and she smiled at the serene sleeping figure of Fenris, a bit of her old snarkiness back to her lips because that was one of the very few nights that she woke up and Fenris was right there beside her and she knew he would, through good times and bad ones.


End file.
